SPEARFISH, S.D. – The Black Hills State University volleyball team (6-18, 2-13 RMAC) welcomed the nation's No. 15 ranked team, Colorado School of Mines, to the Young Center on Saturday for a late-afternoon match. The Orediggers managed to hold on towards the end of all three sets to win, 3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-21).
While CSM maybe have won in straight sets, they had their hands full with a hungry Yellow Jackets team in their second-to-last home game of the season. CSM extended their current winning streak to 13 games and move to 20-4 overall and 14-1 in the RMAC.
The Yellow Jackets did have a consistent hitting average on the night of .250, the Orediggers used sets two and three to close out the match after hitting an impressive .354 average in that span.
CSM's Melanie Wannamaker led the match with 20 kills on 43 attacks with six errors (.326 avg) and six digs as Sarah Pekarek added to the offensive attack with 13 kills. Setter, Danielle Johnson-Hazlewood, was active all night after finishing with 44 assists.
The Yellow Jackets used front-line junior Holly Hamlin once again after her 19 attacks resulted in nine kills with zero errors (.474 avg) to go with three blocks. Sophomore Shelby Mayer hit .571 after eight kills on 14 attacks with zero errors, as she too threw in two more blocks on the afternoon.
BHSU seniors, Caitlin Templeton and Amy O'Neill, provided more offensive support after hitting home 15 kills between them, after freshman setter Brynn Eckhardt set up the Jackets' attack all night with 36 assists.
BHSU relied on the defensive play from junior libero, Kelsey Olson, who finished with 16 digs and redshirt freshman, Lacy Stevens, who picked up 10 more digs.
The next match for the Jackets will come on Tuesday night (11/5) versus rival Chadron State (5-20, 2-13) in the team's final home match of the year on Senior Night.
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